Nick John

The trade deadline is now 26 hours away, and the Red Sox are attempting to upgrade their roster. Their biggest need appears to be starting pitching, as the team has been linked to starters Mitch Keller and Dylan Cease. Now, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports that the Red Sox have shown interest in pitchers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Along with that, Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reports that the Red Sox have been monitoring Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins. All three starters are likely to be moved before the deadline and have the potential to upgrade the Red Sox rotation based on past pedigree. What do you think? Should the Red Sox pursue any of these three? Is there a different starter they should go after? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below. View full rumor

The Boston Red Sox made a few promotions Sunday night as pitchers Connelly Early and David Sandlin are being promoted to Triple-A Worcester per Beyond The Monster’s Andrew Parker. The duo is seen as two of Boston’s top pitching prospects, with Early being ranked as the Sox’s sixth-best prospect and Sandlin the 12th on MLB Pipeline. Both starters opened the season with Double-A Portland, and it was viewed as a matter of time until they were called up to Worcester. Early, drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, has made incredible strides this season after ending 2024 with Portland. In 15 games this season, 12 starts, Early has gone 7-2 with a 2.51 ERA in 71 2/3 innings. In that span, he struck out 96 batters and only walked 29 for a strikeout per walk rate of 3.31. So far this season, Early has a strikeout rate of 32.3% and a walk rate of 9.8%, while limiting opposing hitters to a .198 batting average. Sandlin was acquired by the Kansas City Royals in February 2024, just as spring training was beginning for John Schreiber. Much like Early, Sandlin has also shown great improvement this season as he’s managed to go deeper into outings and limit his walks. In 17 games this season, 13 starts, Sandlin has gone 5-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 82 1/3 innings pitched (a career high). He’s also struck out 86 batters while walking just 27. While his strikeout rate is down this season, Sandlin has instead focused on allowing batters to put the ball in play when a strikeout isn’t necessary. His strikeout rate has dropped to 25.4% from 33.2% last season, and his walk rate is 8.0%. Opponents are also hitting just .226 against the right-hander while his FIP is at a career low of 3.29. The two will likely continue to pitch in both the rotation and as long men out of the bullpen through the remainder of the season. If they continue to impress in Worcester, there’s a chance one or both could be called up to Boston as reinforcements. What do you think about the promotions? Too soon? Should they have been earlier in the season? Do either of them make it to Boston this year? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. View full rumor

When you think of the Red Sox and Yankees, it's usually about their historic rivalry, but it could be slightly different due in part to the trade deadline. Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Yankees are interested in David Hamilton. Hamilton would be an interesting trade to the Yankees. While just 27 years old, he has had a rough offensive season. Hitting just .179/.229/.276 with three doubles, three home runs, and 12 RBIs in 133 plate appearances. His most promising skill is his speed. So far in 176 career games, he's stolen 50 bases while being caught just eight times. This season, Hamilton has seen a drop-off in performance and was recently demoted to Triple-A Worcester before being recalled due to Marcelo Mayer's wrist injury. With the ability to play both second base and shortstop, along with his speed, making him a valuable late-game pinch runner, the Red Sox may be hesitant to trade him to a division rival. Should the Red Sox entertain a phone call with their rivals? Should they refuse to trade him to New York? Leave your thoughts down below in the comments. View full rumor

Just as the Boston Red Sox were seemingly getting back to full health, they were struck by injury once more. This time the team will be without rookie Marcelo Mayer as he hits the 10-day injured list with a right wrist sprain. Mayer was forced to leave the Red Sox's latest game, being seen on camera pointing to his wrist. Mayer did say that it was only a sprain and not hamate or broken bone related. In 44 games, Mayer was hitting .228/.272/.402 with eight doubles, a triple, four home runs and 10 RBIs. Mayer's greatest production was defensively as he bounced between second base and third base and played excellent defense despite coming up through the system as a shortstop. The severity of the injury isn’t known but in response to the injury, David Hamilton was recalled from Worcester. Alex Cora also said that Ceddanne Rafaela will play more second base for the time being. The move to the middle infield for Rafaela will clear up the outfield logjam and will likely make the starting outfield be Roman Anthony in left field, Jarren Duran in center field and Wilyer Abreu in right field. Do you think this is just a minor injury and Mayer will be back quickly? Could it be a longer absence? Should Rafaela be in center field regardless? Leave your thoughts below in the comments. View full rumor

Payton TolleFranklin AriasLuis PeralesJhostynxon GarciaJames Tibbs IIIBrandon ClarkeKyson WitherspoonConnelly EarlyJuan ValeraMikey RomeroDorian SotoDavid SandlinAnthony EyansonMiguel BleisJustin GonzalesJedixson PaezYoeilin CespedesMarcus PhillipsBlaze JordanHenry Godbout

Payton TolleFranklin AriasLuis PeralesJhostynxon GarciaJames Tibbs IIIBrandon ClarkeKyson WitherspoonConnelly EarlyJuan ValeraMikey RomeroDorian SotoDavid SandlinAnthony EyansonMiguel BleisJustin GonzalesJedixson PaezYoeilin CespedesMarcus PhillipsBlaze JordanHenry Godbout

While the Boston Red Sox look to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021, the rest of the organization is looking to continue their development to help contribute to the big league roster. From the minor league perspective, there are several interesting stories for the remainder of the season, especially towards some of the top prospects in the organization. Below, we’re going to look at five prospects that should have interesting second halves. 5) Yoeilin Cespedes Cespedes entered the season alongside fellow prospect Franklin Arias as an exciting, young prospect who dominated in the Florida Complex League in 2024. After hitting .319/.400/.615 with 10 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 24 RBIs, Cespedes was promoted to Salem in late June but missed the rest of 2024 with a broken hamate bone that he had surgery on. Cespedes, who is known for impressive bad speed (he has one of the quickest bats in the entire system), has excellent hand-eye coordination and was expected by fans to continue his hitting in Salem in 2025. That hasn’t happened so far. In 71 games at Salem, the right-handed hitter has struggled to a stat line of .214/.266/.349 with 15 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 33 RBIs. He’s also struck out 68 times, 25 times more than his first two years in the system combined. Despite the low batting average and high strikeouts, Cespedes has shown his plus raw power thanks to his solid exit velocities and hard-hit rates even on balls that haven’t landed for hits. With the way that Carilion Clinic Field’s dimensions are, there is the possibility that if he gets promoted to Greenville before the end of the season, he could showcase more pop thanks in part to his in-game power mostly being to the pull side and Fluor Field being 310 feet out to left. Despite the rough season (including a July that has seen him hit .104/.157/.146 in 52 plate appearances), there’s a reason the Red Sox gave him the largest bonus in the team’s January 2023 international free agent class. He won’t turn 20 until early September and some prospects take a little longer to develop than others. One who has his offensive potential should come around sooner than later. 4) Mikey Romero Since being drafted in 2022, it’s been one thing after another with Romero, as he suffered a back injury in the 2022-23 offseason that ended up becoming a stress fracture and made him miss most of 2023. He would also miss time in 2024 rehabbing from the injury and ended up playing in 78 games (a career high), where he hit .271/.312/.509 with 24 doubles, four triples, 16 home runs and 53 RBIs across the Florida Complex League, Greenville and Portland. Now (mostly) healthy in 2025, Romero has showcased the offensive potential that made him a first-round pick in 2022. In 58 games this season, Romero is hitting .275/.332/.485 with 17 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 38 RBIs. The infielder has also worked on being more patient at the plate, having walked 19 times, which is a career high since being drafted. The two big things to pay attention to regarding Romero the rest of the season are whether he can stay healthy, and if he stays with the Red Sox at the trade deadline. Already this season, Romero has missed around a month between May and June due to arm fatigue. This year, he’s looked better and entered the year looking more physical as he filled out his lower half and strengthened his upper body, but now he needs to prove he can play a whole season. Of course, that truly only matters if he fits with the team’s future plans. At the moment, their infield and outfield appear to be set for the future, and with his offensive skills, he might be more useful as a trade piece than as a future major leaguer with the Sox. 3) Miguel Bleis Bleis is very much the definition of a prospect who may not work out as intended. Having received the highest bonus in the Red Sox January 2021 international free agent class, Bleis flew up prospect charts and rankings as he was viewed as being a possible future star. In his first games stateside, Bleis played in the Florida Complex League in 2022 and appeared in 40 games where he hit .301/.353/.542 with 14 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 27 RBIs. A lower back issue kept him from being promoted that year. Injuries have been a recurring theme with Bleis, though when he has stayed healthy, he’s showcased the skill that put him as such a highly-ranked prospect. His 2023 season was limited to just 31 games because of a left shoulder subluxation that required surgery and 2024 saw him miss time with several minor injuries. Even 2025 saw him open the season dealing with a quad injury. Now healthy and on pace to play in the most games in his professional career, Bleis has put up a solid yet mixed season. In 67 games, he’s managed to hit .230/.316/.429 with 12 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs and 40 RBIs. Hi biggest issue has been consistency. After a slow start to the year, Bleis turned it on in May and looked to be possibly returning to the former top-100 prospect he had been viewed as. Unfortunately, in June, he managed just a .220/.312/.415 slash line where he hit four doubles, four home runs and had eight RBIs. While the average was down, Bleis still managed to get on base at a nice rate thanks to ten walks. July has been more of the same, however, as through his first 11 games, he’s hit .216/.310/.432 with two doubles, two home runs and two RBIs. Still only 21 years old, Bleis has time to showcase the talent that made him a top-100 prospect, but it’s starting to look like he’ll be yet another fast, defensive outfielder who can hit for power but will strike out often. 2) Franklin Arias Arias entered the Sox system after receiving the second-highest bonus in their 2023 international free agent class thanks in part to his great defense. Since then, he’s only climbed up the prospect rankings due to strong underlying batted ball data and a breakout in the first half of the 2025 season with Salem and Greenville. Arias is expected to become the top prospect in the Sox's farm system upon Roman Anthony’s graduation from prospect status. To say Arias exploded onto the scene in 2025 wouldn’t be an exaggeration. After hitting .257/.331/.378 with nine doubles, three home runs and 26 RBIs in 36 games in Salem in 2024, Arias showed in 2025 he was more than ready for a promotion. In 19 games in 2025 with Salem, Arias slashed .346/.407/.397 with four doubles and nine RBIs. He was quickly promoted to High-A Greenville, where he continued hitting well up until June, where he slumped for the first time this season. That month, Arias struggled to the tune of a .169/.228/.265 batting line with two doubles, two home runs and ten RBIs. It seems to have been a case of just not having hits fall in, as he only struck out six times in 83 at-bats. July has been slightly better, but still not up to his usual standards, as he’s only hit .233/.298/.349 with five doubles and six RBIs in his first 12 games. Overall on the season, Arias is hitting .272/.321/.401 with 16 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 35 RBIs in 56 games for Greenville. Not turning 20 until after the season, Arias is the team’s best positional prospect at the moment that isn't on the MLB roster. The remainder of the season for him will be vital, as a late promotion to Double-A is still on the table. 1) Payton Tolle Tolle has been a welcome surprise for the Red Sox organization, as he looks poised to be their first fully-developed starter they have drafted in quite some time, and likely to become the true number one prospect in the organization following Anthony’s graduation based on various rankings. Just 22 years old, Tolle has made it to Double-A Portland in just his first professional season since being drafted in the second round in 2024. Armed with a fastball that has seen a jump in velocity (sat 90-91 mph in college) that averages 94-97 mph and tops out around 99 mph, a slider that shows depth and bite down in the zone and a changeup that can have late dive downward and out of the zone, Tolle seems to be destined to be a top-of-the-rotation star if he puts it all together. And if his 2025 season is anything to go by, Tolle seems to be on that track. After just 11 games at Greenville (10 starts) where he went 1-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 49 2/3 innings with 79 strikeouts, Tolle was promoted to Portland where he has continued to look just as impressive. Having pitched in four games at Double-A, Tolle has made three starts and is 0-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings. In that span he’s struck out 27 batters and only walked four. What really stands out for Tolle across his entire season has been his ridiculous strikeout rate. At this point in the year, it’s currently sitting at 39.0% and 40.9% since being promoted to Portland. Add to it that batters are not hitting him well, and there could be a chance he might see Triple-A Worcester by the end of the season. In Portland, opponents are hitting just .164 against him with a .250 batting average on balls in play. Add in a 6.1% walk rate, and he just isn’t dealing with much traffic on the basepaths as he mows down lineups multiple times through the order. The rest of the season should help to show why Tolle could be the next developed star pitcher for the Red Sox, and it’ll be fun to follow along through the last couple months. View full article

Tanner Houck’s season is now in jeopardy after being shut down indefinitely following a lengthy rehab assignment, according to Tim Healey of the Boston Globe. Originally placed on the injured list back in Mid-May due to a right flexor pronator strain, Houck began his rehab on June 18th in Worcester and appeared in five games between Worcester and Portland. Now it appears that his flexor soreness has returned, leaving his season status uncertain. While surgery has been ruled out at the moment, the team is unsure of what to do next. “We gotta go to step one, I guess,” Alex Cora said when asked about Houck’s status for the remainder of the season. Houck’s rehab assignment had concluded, and the team was required to either activate him and add him to the major league roster or option him to Triple-A Worcester. Instead, he will remain on the injured list as he attempts to work his way back once more. The potential loss of Houck for the season could force the Red Sox to up their efforts in trading for a starter leading up to the trade deadline, especially with fellow starter Hunter Dobbins out for the remainder of the year. Do you think Houck will make it back before the end of the year? Might surgery be the best option and have him come back at 100% next season? Does his setback make acquiring a starter the team's top priority? Leave your thoughts below down in the comments. View full rumor

As the trade deadline quickly approaches, the Red Sox are being considered among the buyers in Major League Baseball. As the club looks to upgrade specific positions, ESPN’s Jeff Passan has released his Top 50 trade deadline candidates, and the Red Sox are being considered a “best fit” for several players. Both rental and long-term assets are being considered, as the list contains exciting names. Among the rentals that Boston is considered as a potential “best fit” are first basemen Ryan O’Hearn and Josh Naylor and pitcher Merrill Kelly. Those three players would likely cost less than the others on the list due to their impending free agency. Those who would be under contract for more than the remainder of this season include pitchers Sandy Alcantara, Kris Bubic, Mitch Keller, Taj Bradley, and Edward Cabrera. OF this group, Alcantara and Bubic could become free agents after next season. Alcantara also has a $21 million team option for the 2027 season but can be bought out for $2 million. Both Cabrera and Keller would be under team control through the 2028 season, the former through arbitration and the latter having signed an extension with the Pittsburgh Pirates through the 2028 season. Of the batch, Bradley may be the most expensive. Not arbitration eligible until after the 2026 season. If traded for Bradley would come back to Boston with four more years of control. What do you think? Of the players listed, who do you want the most? Or are you not interested in any of them? Leave your thoughts below in the comments. View full rumor

As a unit, Red Sox first basemen are currently hitting .240/.299/.388 with 23 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 44 RBIs. To go along with that, they’ve walked 26 times while striking out in 81 at-bats. It isn’t awful production, but at such a valuable offensive position, the team could use an upgrade for the stretch run. One team that could match up in a trade would be the Arizona Diamondbacks, as the team is currently 48-50, 10 games out of the NL West and 4 ½ games out of a wild card spot. With a franchise-record payroll hovering around $190 million, it’s likely they’ll look to shed some payroll. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that rival executives believe the Diamondbacks will sell off players who will be free agents in hopes of getting young pitching back in return. In his last season before free agency, Josh Naylor is making just under $11 million for the team and it’s unlikely the team looks to re-sign him with around $112 million tied up in just ten players for the 2026 season. Arizona will be looking for a way to round out their roster without spending more than they did this season, and the Red Sox would line up perfectly as a trade partner to get cheap, young talent. Naylor himself is having another strong season, slashing .294/.361/.456 with 18 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs and 58 RBIs. Though what may be most impressive this season is the way he’s cut back on striking out, that number down to just 46 as of this writing. Naylor is a veteran bat that can provide power from the left side of the plate, something the Sox have missed with the loss of Triston Casas and the trade of Rafael Devers. His ISO this season is sitting at .162, the lowest figure since he became a full-time player in 2022, but it's not like he's sacrificed a ton of in-game power for his current production. This is also shown in his career low home run percentage of just 3.0%, a number that should increase if he stops playing his home games at Chase Field. The dimensions of the two parks are slightly different, as Fenway is well known for its Green Monster and rather weird dimensions around the park. Where right field is 335 feet at Chase Field, the shortest distance in Fenway for right field would only be 302 feet and right-center is 380 feet compared to Chase Field’s 376 feet. Continuing the difference, Fenway has the triangle in right-center as well, measuring out to 420 feet while the furthest distance is 413 at Chase Field. This is where it starts to change. Straight away at Fenway is only 390 feet, a whole 17 feet shorter for someone like Naylor who has hit the ball this season to center at a 48.8%. Unfortunately, Naylor has only gone opposite field on 12.3% of his batted balls this season, preferring to either pull or go straight back to the middle of the field, meaning he may not get to take a ton of advantage of the Green Monster if he joins the Red Sox. When looking at his spray chart, it seems he’s very much a more right-center or left-center hitter instead of straight away. Should he manage to hit the ball more on a line drive or in a manner where it wouldn’t hang up in the outfield, Naylor could see many doubles be hit across the outfield grass at Fenway. What’s also another positive of Naylor is his consistency when hitting the ball hard. Since becoming a full-time player, Naylor has never had an exit velocity under 89 mph, that trend continues in 2025 as he’s hitting balls at 89.1 mph and for a hard hit rate of 41.5%, the highest since his 2022 season in Cleveland. Likewise, he doesn’t strike out much as his season number is just 12.5% of his at-bats while also walking at a career high 9.5% of his at-bats. To put his strikeout rate into consideration, it would be the best on the team when not including Masataka Yoshida who has only appeared in five games on the season. Add to it that he does something that is very important for a playoff run: hits with runners in scoring position. In 105 plate appearances in the first half, he hit .303 with runners in scoring position, that number increased to .306 with two outs. Add to it that he has some playoff experience while with Cleveland, and he could be a valuable addition to the offense just from his experience alone. However, despite his continued success, there are questions surrounding Naylor. His home run pace has dropped significantly from hitting 31 last season to now being on pace for around 18 home runs, to how his barrel percentage and chase rates are worse this season. Despite that, I think he would benefit from coming to Boston and working in the same hitting lab that developed Roman Anthony into the number one prospect in all of baseball along with revitalizing the careers of Rob Refsnyder and Romy González and transformed Ceddanne Rafaela from a free-swinging, first-pitch-chasing batter into one of the most clutch hitters in all of baseball for the past two months. Working under Pete Fatse and the rest of the Sox hitting department could help Naylor increase his bat speed and tweak his launch angle to help bring back some of his power that is missing this season. In doing so, the team would manage to find their cleanup hitter for the remainder of the season, something they have clearly lacked all year, and lengthen their lineup even more by sliding Carlos Narváez further down the lineup. While González and Abraham Toro have handled the position admirably following the loss of Casas for the season, both players should not be relied upon to handle full time at-bats to this degree. González has shown to hit both right-handed and left-handed pitching this season but the question surrounding him is whether his body can hold up. Already, he’s missed around a month after a freak collision with Josh Smith of the Texas Rangers and heading into the All-Star break was “banged up” according to manager Alex Cora. González may also be better suited for an infield super-utility role where he could spell either Alex Bregman or Marcelo Mayer at third base or second base while also being slotted into the starting lineup against left-handed pitchers to protect the rookie Mayer. The addition of Naylor would take the need of González at first base away and allow the infielder to provide support to the entire infield. Toro, on the other hand, started hot for the Red Sox but in his last 21 games played before the All-Star break he hit .214/.291/.257 with three doubles and seven RBIs. Offensively, he hasn’t brought much to the team and in his last 33 at-bats is just 6-for-33, good for a .182 batting average entering the second half. He has been extremely lucky at the plate, boasting a .299 batting average for balls in play despite providing the second lowest exit velocity of his career since the 2021 season at 86.4 mph. Though unqualified due to a lack of at-bats, Toro would rank near the bottom when it comes to exit velocity, barrel percentage, hard hit rate, bat speed and chase percentage, all of which Naylor would be an improvement over. With only half a season remaining on his contract too, Naylor could be had for cheap when it comes to prospect capital. During the offseason he was acquired from Cleveland for Slade Cecconi who entered the 2024 season was the Diamondbacks’ 17th-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. A former first-round pick in the 2020 MLB draft, Cecconi pitched in 27 games across parts of two seasons, making 17 starts for Arizona. He would struggle, allowing 70 earned runs in 104 innings pitched for a 6.06 ERA and only striking out 84 batters in that span. The Diamondbacks may regret trading him as he’s figured things out this season in Cleveland as he sports a 4-4 record in 10 starts, tossing 55 innings and having a 3.44 ERA. With there being question marks surrounding the rotation after this season for Arizona, he could have been a key piece in the coming seasons. Looking at the starting pitchers currently under contract for the 2026 season, the Diamondbacks don’t have many. Without including those who are arbitration eligible, Arizona only has three starters on their roster for 2026; Corbin Burnes, Eduardo Rodríguez, and Brandon Pfaadt, who will combine for $55.2 million in salary. And to make it worse, Burnes is likely to miss a good portion of the 2026 season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery he had back in June. Ryne Nelson is going to slot into the rotation as well, but he’s still pre-arbitration. So, how does this line up with the Red Sox being a good trade partner for Arizona? The Red Sox have a lot of young pitching that is close to being ready for the major leagues if not already ready. While their current Triple-A pitching staff may not be enticing in a trade, if you look at Portland, there are two pitchers the Red Sox could possibly be willing to move in a trade. David Sandlin and Connelly Early are young pitchers who have risen up the Red Sox prospect rankings, but following the development of their 2024 draft prospects and the many pitching selections they made in the 2025 draft, one or even both may become expendable, and Arizona may have interest in one of them to hold down a rotation spot in 2026 for them. Looking at the original deal Arizona made for Naylor, would it seem out of place to offer up Sandlin in a straight one-for-one trade? Sandlin may lack the major league experience that Cecconi had, but he’s shown this season to have a lively arm that has struck out 81 batters in 74 1/3 innings. With a fastball that can top out at 99 mph in game and paired with a slider that is viewed as potentially being a plus offering, Arizona could view him as either a mid to backend rotation arm or a key bullpen piece on an extremely cheap contract Should the Diamondbacks want more than just a single pitcher back for Naylor, the Red Sox could offer a trade of multiple arms they may not have much desire to keep around. Could Arizona possibly be swayed into accepting something along the lines of Tyler Uberstine and Hayden Mullins? The pair are the 21st and 23rd-ranked prospects in the system by SoxProspects. Given his status as a rental bat, that could be enough to get the deal done. Though one thing is certain, if the Diamondbacks want young arms back in return for Naylor, the Red Sox have plenty of young arms they could offer from their system, especially after drafting 15 pitchers in this year’s draft. If the Red Sox want to make the playoffs, they have to upgrade certain positions and first base is one of them. Craig Breslow has shown he’s not afraid to make a trade, and if he thinks Naylor is right for the team, then you can bet he'll be in contact with Arizona’s front office leading up to the trade deadline. View full article

The $112M doesn't include arbitration numbers either. And of that $112M, $30M goes to Burnes who will miss most of the 1st half next season. I think they move their big free agents to restock the major league roster and high minors with cheap, major league ready talent. A team like Arizona can't compete with Dodgers or Giants if they try to match them in spending. They tried that after making the world series in 2023 and are now dealing with having to trade players. I don't think the Sox go after Gallen but should look into Naylor or Suarez.

Arizona seems inclined to trade their soon to be free agents due to budget reasons. They're at $190M this season (a team record) and around $112M next year for just 10 players. They need young pitching and we have it. See if any of our young pitchers (Sandlin?) could entice them.

Personally I want the team to go out and get either Josh Naylor (I expect him to be available) or Yandy Diaz (if the Rays decide to move him) to take care of 1st for the remainder of the season.

With the second half of the baseball season about to kick off on Friday, it’s a good time to look back on the first half for the Boston Red Sox. A season that was filled with so much hope and expectations at the onset has instead gone through a lot of twists and turns. The team once looked dead in the water before catching fire in June, only to then trade their face of the franchise, Rafael Devers. Since then, however, the team has been one of the best in baseball and is now in a playoff position, showing that anything is possible in a sport where 162 games are played. So, in what's been a season full of surprises, let's reflect on some of the most surprising performances from the roster in the first half. 1) First base didn’t become a black hole offensively after Triston Casas was lost for the season. Everyone remembers the moment on May 2 when Casas went down, rupturing his left patellar tendon as he sprinted to first base. His season was lost, and the Red Sox now faced a hole at a position where they lacked much depth. On the roster was Romy González, the team’s de facto backup first baseman who had mainly played third base or either of the middle infield positions in prior years. Joining him as what many thought would be a temporary basis at first was Abraham Toro. Toro had been signed to a minor league contract and attended spring training with the Sox, but had been killing it with Worcester at the time of his contract being selected. The two found themselves in a planned platoon where it seemed González would start against left-handed pitchers and Toro would start against right-handed pitchers. It didn’t last for long, as González found himself on the injured list shortly after on May 7 due to a left quad contusion after colliding with Josh Smith of the Texas Rangers at first base. In his absence, Toro and Nick Sogard stepped up, where the latter appeared in 17 games in May, hitting .296/.296/.537 with four doubles, three home runs and five RBIs. Toro’s hot hitting continued into June where he continued to play well, splitting time between first and third base following an injury to Alex Bregman and the return of González. In 25 games in June, Toro slashed .279/.354/.407 with five doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs. In that same span, González also caught fire at the plate, as he hit .300/.333/.583 with six doubles, a triple, three home runs and 13 RBIs in 18 games. In July, however, Toro has started to fall off a little, as his production has dipped to a slash line of .216/.275/.270 with two doubles and four RBIs. The dip in production, however, has been covered by González, as he’s only gotten hotter once the calendar flipped. In nine games in July, he’s hitting .414/.424/.862 with three doubles, two triples, two home runs and nine RBIs. The platoon may not be perfect, but given the Red Sox were in early May with injuries leaving them scrambling for a first baseman, the team has done well with the combination of Toro and González handling the position. 2) Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito turned their seasons around after rough starts to the year. Entering the season, there were a lot of question marks surrounding the rotation after Garrett Crochet. No one knew if Tanner Houck would replicate his All-Star season or if Kutter Crawford was going to be ready as he dealt with a knee issue in spring training. There were even concerns over which Walker Buehler the team was going to get, the one who struggled in the regular season or who had three decent outings in the playoffs. Though, what may have been the biggest question marks were Bello and Giolito, as both were behind schedule in spring training and were set to open the season on the injured list. Upon their returns, neither was much to write home about; Bello pitched twice in April, managing to avoid painful innings as he worked around runners on base, while Giolito only pitched once, a six-inning, three-run performance which anyone would take after he missed all of 2024. However, it seemed to be deceiving for both, as Bello would then start six games in May, his ERA for the month finishing at 4.03 along with a 1.69 WHIP thanks in part to 33 hits and 16 walks in only 29 innings. His worst outing came against the Atlanta Braves, where he allowed seven earned runs on ten hits and five walks in only 4 1/3 innings. Giolito wasn’t much better in May, starting five games but posting an ERA of 4.85 as he allowed 14 runs on 31 hits and eight walks. Giolito's issues were more about inconsistency, as he would have a good outing followed by a rough one, the worst of the season being on June 4 where he lasted just 1 2/3 innings and allowed seven earned runs on eight hits. His ERA on the season ballooned to 6.42 after the start. Since those two rough outings for both pitchers, they’ve seen incredible turn arounds. For Bello, he really seemed to catch fire on June 3 against the Los Angeles Angels where he went six innings and allowed only three runs. Since then, he’s gone at least six innings in every game, including a complete game against the Colorado Rockies on July 8 (the exception to that was when he pitched five innings out of the bullpen for a game being resumed in the fourth inning after being suspended due to rain). Since the start of June, Bello has seen his ERA drop from 3.91 all the way to 3.14, while his FIP has also dropped from 4.82 down to 4.21 as he’s severely cut down on the free passes he allows. Across June and July, Bello walked a combined 12 batters; in May, that number was 16. Giolito has also seen an increase in performance, being tied to his increase in fastball usage. Since his blowup on June 4, Giolito has gone at least six innings every start, having not allowed more than two earned runs in any of them. His ERA dropped from 6.42 at the start of June down to 3.36 heading into the second half, while he also lowered his FIP from 4.78 down to 3.62. Much like Bello, Giolito is limiting baserunners, as he’s only walked more than one batter in a start just three times, the most being three batters. Likewise, the most hits he’s given up has been six. Since his disastrous outing against the Angels, Giolito has only allowed three earned runs across 38 2/3 innings, and he’s cemented himself as one of the top pitchers in the rotation. With Bello and Giolito pitching to their potential, it helps strengthen a rotation that has seen injuries to several pitchers, including losing Hunter Dobbins for the season to a torn ACL. 3) Ceddanne Rafaela may get some down-ballot MVP love. Everyone knew Rafaela was a defensive phenomenon out in center field, making impossible plays look routine. However, his bat was always more of a question mark, as he was a streaky hitter that would be overly aggressive at the plate, swinging at the first pitch or chasing often out of the strike zone. That suddenly changed for Rafaela after a road trip in Milwaukee that left the center fielder hitting .232/.283/.356 on the season. The final game of that series saw Rafaela go 3-for-5 with a home run and was the second game of an eight-game hitting streak. It concluded with a walk-off home run that is the shortest in the history of the Statcast era (303 feet off the Pesky Pole) that saw his numbers rise to .252/.296/.411 on the season. The key difference is the manner in which he’s hitting the ball. Since the end of May, the team wanted him to start pulling the ball more in the air and because of it, he’s exploded. In 26 June games, he would go on to hit .283/.327/.543 with six doubles, six home runs and 13 RBI. Those numbers only increased in 11 July games (so far) where he’s hit .390/.405/.902 with six doubles, five home runs and 15 RBIs to go along with his usual stellar defense. Manager Alex Cora also had gotten on Rafaela about pulling the ball more, saying to MassLive's Sean McAdams “In this ballpark, especially, he needs to pull the ball. I used to joke around about Mookie (Betts) – there was a year when he was crushing the ball to right-center. It looked awesome, pretty, but it was an out. Kind of like the same thing with (Rafaela) – he can crush the ball to right-center, but in this venue (you don’t get rewarded).” Rafaela, however, doesn’t think that pulling it is the reason for his success, saying “It’s not really pulling the ball more. It’s just that when I hit it to the pull side, I elevate the ball in the air. I stay with my approach to the middle of the field and I let it happen by itself.” With this new approach, Rafaela has become a spark plug in the lineup and has won the team a few games with two walk-offs, one against the Angels and another just recently against the Rays in the final series of the first half. His offensive explosion has been a positive addition to a Red Sox team that has gone good lengths this season struggling to score runs. And, with the team beginning to get healthy again, he could have plenty of RBI opportunities with runners on base ahead of him. Should his productive hitting continue, Rafaela may earn some lower-end MVP votes in a similar fashion to how Jarren Duran earned them at the end of 2024 where he finished eighth. The 2025 season hasn’t gone exactly as Red Sox fans hoped it would so far, but the team wrapped up the first half on a hot stretch. With the trade deadline on the horizon, Boston may be gearing up for its best season in quite some time. View full article